LAS CRUCES - Twenty-six years ago Wednesday, two unidentified suspects carried out the one of most horrific crimes in the history of Las Cruces.

On the morning of Feb. 10, 1990, two gunmen entered Las Cruces Bowl on East Amador Avenue and opened fire on four children and three adults. Four of the victims were killed execution-style in what has since become known as the “Bowling Alley Massacre.”

Steven Teran, a 26-year-old New Mexico State University student who was originally from Bayard, was killed, along with his 2-year-old daughter, Valerie Teran, and his 6-year-old stepdaughter, Paula Holguin. At time the of the mass shooting, Teran’s daughters were being watched by 13-year-old Amy Houser and 12-year-old Melissa Repass at a daycare facility at the bowling alley, where Teran was working.

Houser also was shot and killed.

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Steven Teran, 26, was killed in a massacre at Las Cruces Bowl on the morning of Feb. 10, 1990. The suspects were never caught.(Photo11: Sun-News file photo)

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Amy Houser was killed in a massacre at Las Cruces Bowl on the morning of Feb. 10, 1990. The suspects were never caught.(Photo11: Sun-News file photo)

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Paula Holguin, left, and Valerie Teran were killed in a massacre at Las Cruces Bowl on the morning of Feb. 10, 1990. The suspects were never caught.(Photo11: Sun-News file photo)

Repass, who called 911 to report that she and six others had been shot, survived the shooting, along with her 34-year-old mother Stephanie Senac and 33-year-old Ida Holguin, who worked as a cook. However, Senac, the manager of the bowling alley, died in August 1999 from complications related to injuries sustained from the shooting.

Detectives with the Las Cruces Police Department believe Teran and his daughters were confronted by one of the gunmen when they walked into the bowling alley around 8 a.m. They were then taken to an office, where the other four victims were being held captive, according to police.

Inside the office, the gunmen stole about $5,000 in cash from a safe and then shot all seven victims, police said. They also set fire to the office in what was believed to be an attempt to destroy evidence.

Police officers arrived at the bowling alley about a minute after Repass called 911. But the gunmen — who are believed to be Hispanic — vanished before officers arrived and have evaded capture ever since.

This week, Lt. Casey Mullins, who supervises all detectives at LCPD, said the case remains open and all incoming leads are actively pursued by detective Amador Martinez. Because the massacre is considered a first-degree murder case, Mullins said there are no time limits in which charges must be filed against the suspects.

“This is still an open first-degree murder case, and the statute of limitations will never run out on these murders,” Mullins said.

Martinez has been assigned to the case for about four years, according to Mullins. On average, Mullins said, Martinez has received about two to four leads a year, though none have been “fruitful.”

“It extremely frustrating because it’s a horror story. Four innocent people lost their lives that day,” Mullins said. “It’s what we're supposed to do: Put the bad guys in jail. When we don’t do that, it’s like we’re not doing our job.”

In the 1990s, Mullins said, LCPD relied heavily on fingerprint analysis and eyewitness accounts since “DNA technology was in its infancy,” all of which has contributed to making this case difficult to solve.

Mullins said evidence collected at the scene is still being processed and analyzed at a forensic crime laboratory in Santa Fe.

But, he said, “A lot of this case is dependent on someone coming forward with information. … We’re really counting on the public.”

“In this day and age, things like this don’t go unsolved,” Anthony Teran said Tuesday, speaking by telephone from Phoenix. “How did we not get these guys? That’s the question I ask myself every day. Numerous people saw these gunmen, so someone out there knows something, and they need to come forward.”

Teran said time has not helped his family heal from the murders of his brother and nieces. In fact, he said, the family still is in deep mourning, especially around this time of the year.

“It still hurts us a great deal, even 26 years later,” he said.

Mullins said he remains hopeful the case will one day be solved.

“I don’t ever want to give up hope on this one,” he said. “There’s people alive now who know what happened. Even if they’re on their deathbed now, we hope they would give a confession. It’s not a 100-year-old case, it’s only 26 years old, and so we don’t want to give up hope.”

Steven Teran and his daughters are buried a Memorial Lane Cemetery in Silver City, near his hometown, his brother said.

Las Cruces Crime Stoppers is offering a $25,000 reward for information that helps identify the gunmen and leads to an arrest, according to LCPD.

Anyone with information that can help identify the suspects is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477) or send a tip by text message to CRIMES (274637), keyword LCTIPS. The number and text messaging services are operational 24 hours a day, and callers can remain anonymous.